National News

Jay-Z responds to critics of Cuba trip in new song

UPDATE: Jay Carney told reporters that the White House had nothing to do with Jay-Z's trip to Cuba. He reminded reporters that it was just a song.

(Becket Adams) Noted Democrat donor Jay-Z and his wife Beyoncé spent their fifth wedding anniversary on a U.S.-sanctioned trip to Havana, Cuba, much to the chagrin of those who believe the U.S. should deal firmly with the communist country.

And in response to those who have criticized the power couple’s controversial trip to Fidel Castro’s “paradise” island, including Sen. Marco Rubio and Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the rapper decided to write and release a song titled “Open Letter” wherein he brags about how awesome he is.

“I done turned Havana into Atlanta,” Jay-Z says in his song, which was released Thursday. “[…] Boy from the hood, I got White House clearance… Politicians never did sh*t for me except lie to me, distort history… They wanna’ give me jail time and a fine. Fine, let me commit a real crime.”

But wait! There’s more where that came from: “Hear the freedom in my speech… Obama said, ‘Chill you gonna get me impeached. You don’t need this sh*t anyway, chill with me on the beach.’”

(Ah, yes, from Public Enemy’s 1989 “Fight the Power” to Jay-Z “chill[ing] … on the beach” with the President of the United States – rap, you’ve come a long way.)

Wait – did he just say President Obama pulled some strings to get the couple to Cuba?

Considering how close the couple is to the White House, and the enormous amount of cash they raised in 2012 for the president’s re-election bid, is it possible that President Obama had a hand in greenlighting their trip to the otherwise off-limits island?